Buy it... if you're in the mood to appreciate a perfect balance of
hopeful harmony and tremendous tragedy, for Sommersby remains a
uniquely melodramatic entry in Danny Elfman's most sentimental ranges.

Avoid it... if you consider yourself suicidal, because
Sommersby could honestly put you over the edge.

EDITORIAL REVIEW

FILMTRACKS TRAFFIC RANK: #482

WRITTEN
9/24/96, REVISED 9/11/08

BUY IT

Elfman

Sommersby: (Danny Elfman) An Americanized story of
the soldier who assumes the identity of a comrade and returns to live
the other man's life, Sommersby was a Richard Gere vehicle for
which Nicholas Meyer had rewritten the story for the Virginia
countryside. The film failed to garner much attention outside of its
initial release, partly due to the story's predictably downbeat ending,
unconvincing acting performances, and poor word of mouth. Despite its
obscurity these many years later, Sommersby remains a well
crafted film by director Jon Amiel, with several spectacular scenes of
beautiful cinematography contained within the picture. In the post-Civil
War era, Gere's title character returns from several years of war,
having killed the nasty and real (and nearly identical-looking)
Sommersby and assuming his place in a small Virginia village as a
changed man. As he helps improve the town, as well as his family, the
film builds up a positive, though troubled momentum, leading to the
discovery of his fraud and a trail for his crimes. Sommersby was
the only collaboration between Amiel and composer Danny Elfman (Amiel
established a working relationship with Christopher Young after this
film), and the choice of the rising star was one of intrigue and curiosity
at the time. Elfman had been relatively inactive during the previous
years, with his only major assignment being the Batman sequel, a
score that obviously had nothing to offer in favor of the composer's
talents regarding pre-1900 Virginia. Elfman had clearly defined his
heavily dramatic sense of haunting, thematic beauty, however, in
Edward Scissorhands. Ironically, Sommersby would offer the
basis for Elfman's better known score for Black Beauty the
following year, and an interesting environment of hushed, muddled
enthusiasm still surrounds the first endeavor.

In its intimate exploration of emotional and thematic
avenues, Sommersby rivals Edward Scissorhands in power and
needs to take its rightful place atop the list of Elfman's career
achievements. Critics of the score in 1993 claimed that Sommersby
strayed too far from Elfman's sphere of stylistic comfort, offering a
work that was simply too out of character for the composer to qualify as
perhaps his best effort. Many years later, though, Elfman's music for
Sommersby remains as his most uniquely dramatic score and
overshadows all of his subsequent efforts in its genuine sensitivity and
tragic heart. Thematically rich from start to end, Sommersby is
strikingly appropriate for the Virginia landscape, as well as the
personal drama contained within. A dynamic string section performs with
historic sensibility and remarkable harmony, chopping with power and
dignity (in Batman style) in "Going to Nashville" and thereafter.
The brass, while occasionally performing one of Elfman's themes, is
utilized in a similar fashion to John Barry's Westerns, serving as a
bold counterpoint enhancement to the strings (with several such lovely
contributions throughout "Return Montage"). Solo trumpet performances
contribute occasional nobility to the equation. An acoustic guitar,
fiddle, and harmonica offer spectacular accompaniment for the more
hopeful, early scenes of farming and community cohesion; some of this
rhythmic writing in particular would show up again to a lesser extent in
Black Beauty, but it would largely remain strikingly singular to
Sommersby in Elfman's first twenty years of film scoring. The
ethnic woodwind contributions to these sections, including the beginning
of "End Credits," further exhibit a character of period style that
Elfman fans would have difficulty finding again.

Thematically, Elfman's use of the title theme, heard
immediately at the outset of the film, is extensive. It anchors all of
the score's major dramatic cues, though an intelligent rotation of
performing instruments keeps the idea enticingly fresh. A secondary
theme for the concept of rebirth accompanies the new lives for both the
title character and the people of the town. First making an impact in
"Return Montage," chronologically in terms of the story, the theme is
the basis of the memorable "At Work" before Elfman dispatches it in a
heartbreaking performance (simultaneous with the primary theme, which
becomes one romance for the two leads) at the start of "Death." A few
secondary phrases are attached to the statements of the primary theme,
used as bridges to connect scenes and break up the harmonic resonance of
the score's main identity. Many of these slight interludes are presented
in the softer sequences of the score, those minimalistic guitar or
woodwind cues that require close attention to appreciate their detail.
The overall stylistic impression given by Sommersby, of course,
is one of brooding darkness. While beautiful in their instrumentation
and performances, the themes are often anchored by an overbearing bass
(whether by orchestration or added into the mixing of the score in
post-production) that causes them to rumble their way across your
stereo. This domineering bass region sometimes makes enjoyment of the
score on album difficult, but it sets the intended mood well. When fans
of Danny Elfman's early works lament the loss of the composer's dramatic
flair, Sommersby best sums up the sound that disappeared from his
career over the next decade. It does not adhere to the composer's fairy
tale styles of the era, but as Elfman's most deadly serious dramatic
effort, one that can bring forth tears if you're not prepared, it's a
hidden gem that no true fan of the composer should be without. *****@Amazon.com: CD or
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